No one spoke along the way. Only the four of them could be heard, their footsteps falling one by one on the ruined foundations of the halls.
Shen Yi watched as he walked.
He watched the Black Fog seeping into cracks in the stone and winding around the beams.
It did not lash out as it had outside. Instead, it clung there quietly, layer upon layer.
The deeper they went, the thicker it grew. Eventually, even the ground beneath their feet was covered by a thin black film.
Even the flame in Xilos's palm was pressed lower and lower as they walked.
After a long while, the two Hall Masters ahead finally stopped.
"We're here."
Before them stood a teleportation gate.
It was badly damaged. Half its stone frame had cracked away, and the Black Fog had eaten through the patterns once carved into it.
Two broken lengths of chain still hung from either side of the frame. The seals on them had long since vanished, leaving only a few wisps of black vapor tangled around the links. Nothing remained of the light this place had once held, only a gray, desolate void.
No wind or sound came through the gate. Only darkness spilled outward, layer upon layer. The air all around it was thick with the interwoven presence of the Black Fog, one layer pressing down on another.
"This is the place," said the Hall Master in plain robes.
"Not one of the people who went in through here back then ever returned."
Shen Yi stopped before the gate.
Xilos stood just behind him, looking at it. The flame in her palm sank lower still.
"Lord Shen," she said softly, "behind this gate..."
"Mm. It's all right," Shen Yi said.
"Once the gate opens, how long can it hold?"